Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a branch of science resulting from the marriage of the cognitive and computer sciences. Computers, originally used for the manipulation of numbers (data) are now being used for the manipulation of ideas (knowledge). Trends and solutions can be inferred by the assimilation of observed facts just as numbers are added and subtracted to produce totals. Computer systems are being developed that exhibit thought processes previously ascribed only to humans.
The study of AI leads to insight regarding the human thought processes in addition to the development of practical systems to solve problems in the workpiece, the school and the home. The "expert system" is one method of obtaining such practical results with AI.
An expert system solves a problem through the manipulation of knowledge. The system consists of an inference engine and a knowledge base. The knowledge base is compiled from the experience of human experts in the field and encoded in a computer language suited for the description of ideas and principles. The inference engine controls the flow of the program, tracing solutions.
The inference engine has, in recent years, become a widely available product through a number of companies, including Gold Hill Computers Inc., of Cambridge, Massachusetts; Intellicorp, of Mountain View, California; Technology Applications, Inc., of Jacksonville, Florida; Teknowledge Inc., of Palo Alto, California; Neuron Data Inc., of Palo Alto, California; and Texas Instruments, of Austin, Texas. Two inference engines have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,658,370 to Erman et al., and 4,648,044 to Hardy et al., both assigned to Teknowledge Inc.
Expert systems recently have found use in a variety of applications, such as in agriculture, chemistry, computer design, construction, engineering, finance, management, health care, manufacturing, and others. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,591,983 Bennett et al., an expert system for use in inventory control is disclosed, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,517,468, 4,642,782, and 4,644,479, all to Kemper et al., each disclose a diagnostic system for monitoring an industrial system, such as a steam turbine generator power plant.
In the health care field, hospitals and medical laborities have used computers to analyze blood and run certain tests. Data bases have been established for recommending drug therapies for certain types of cancers. An expert system made by Cardinal Systems Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota, includes standard textbooks data, and a graphical illustration of the sympathetic nervous system, for purposes of testing a diagnosis, and recommending therapeutic drugs. Other expert diagnostic and treatment systems are specific to a particular healthcare concern, such as, for example, a system called "Senex", specifically designed to aid in the treatment of breast cancer, and a system called "Hepatitis Assistant", designed for better diagnosis and treatment of hepatitis patients. Other health care systems are known to address the specific fields of epilepsy, poison control, childbirth and physical rehabilitation.
Although prior art expert systems have been designed to address a relatively wide range of health care concerns, little is known to have been done in the area of treatment of physical trauma. That is, it is beleived that none of the existing expert systems designed for health care applications have provided the ability to perform a consultation to help determine the optimal manner in which to treat a specific type of trauma. Such a system would be useful not only for suggesting a treatment, but also for providing a consultation session between an experienced surgeon and a learning surgeon.